Lyndhurst woman admits role in large-scale mortgage scheme

LYNDHURST - A Lyndhurst woman admitted her role in a large-scale mortgage fraud scheme that caused millions of dollars in losses, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said.

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Klary Arcentales, 45, of Lyndhurst, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court to an indictment charging her with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and four counts of bank fraud.

Arcentales faces a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million, or twice the gross gain or loss caused by her offense.

Her sentencing is scheduled for May 19.

Between 2007 and 2012, Arcentales engaged in a mortgage fraud conspiracy through a company called Premier Mortgage Services (Premier), where she worked as a loan officer. Arcentales provided false and fraudulent documents to financial institutions in connection with mortgage loan applications on behalf of "straw buyers" to induce those financial institutions to fund mortgage loans. Arcentales then profited illegally by receiving a commission from Premier for each mortgage loan that she closed and by diverting portions of the fraudulently obtained mortgage proceeds to herself, according to the documents filed in the case and statements made in court.

Two other conspirators, Lester Soto, 57, of Freehold, and Linda Cohen, 56, of Orange, previously pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the mortgage fraud scheme. Soto acted as a loan officer on certain Premier mortgage loan applications and took a percentage of Premier's profits. Soto employed document makers to create false and fraudulent documents in furtherance of the scheme and put loan officers at Premier, including Arcentales, in contact with these document makers to create other false and fraudulent documents, according to court documents.

Soto is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 10.

Cohen was a paralegal who served as the settlement agent on mortgage loans brokered by Arcentales for various properties. Cohen convened closings, received funds from lenders, and prepared "HUD-1" reports that claimed to reflect the sources and destinations of funds for mortgages on subject properties. However, the HUD-1s were neither true nor accurate, according to court documents.